Babbit barked out augh and said, "That idiot still thinks I actually want to kill him! Tell him that he can stay in theke for as long as ten years. If he can take part in the Azure Dragon Trial Grounds battle after that as a guard and make the top ten, I''ll keep him working for me. But if he can''t, well. He can do what he wants."


    "Thank you, Master Babbit."


    Felix was overjoyed to hear this. He had said those words to see what Babbit''s intentions with Wilbur were, and it seemed like theyy elsewhere. At the very least, Wilbur''s life would not be at risk in the next few years.


    Wilbur was surprised when Felix told him the news as well. "Why would Edmund let us stay here for ten whole years? We know too much about him. I don''t think he can be trusted. We should n ahead."


    Felix held up five fingers. "Five years, then. You''ll cultivate for five years, Master. We''ll see what happens after that."


    Wilbur nodded, then dove into theke. He took out the bronze mirror, which began absorbing the powerful energy aura around it at once. Wilbur muttered a spell, then went into the mirror at once.


    Inside the mirror dimension, he sat cross-legged on top of a stone tform and cultivated. The energy aura around him grew stronger as time passed, and the pale blue energy aura around him was channeled into him. Following that, he guided the energy aura to circte through his body, which coalesced into the apparition of an azure dragon coiled around his body that formed a powerful energy field around him.


    The special energy field sped up Wilbur''s cultivation even more, increasing his strength rapidly.


    Time flew by in the mirror dimension, as did the outside world.


    It was not long before five years had passed in the outside world, equating to five thousand years in the mirror dimension. Wilbur had mastered the azure dragon energy aura by then and was capable of casting the azure dragon astral defense that would ward off regr cultivators.


    One day, Firton Reyne came up to the Azure Dragon Lake wearing a full set of armor. He had asked to see Felix and Wilbur.


    Felix bowed to him. "Is anything the matter, Mister Firton?"


    Wilbur emerged from the water with a ssh, looking at Firton.


    Firton nced at the two men. "Master Babbit says that there''s something extremely important that he needs your help with. Please put on your armor. We''re going to the White Tiger Forest."


    "What?"


    Wilbur and Felix nced at each other, neither of them knowing what was happening. Despite the fact that Babbit would make frequent trips to theke and greet them, their rtionship had changed over the years and the two men now treated him like a friend.


    Of course, this was all just an act that they were putting on for now. Since Firton had asked for them, the two men had no choice but to put on a change of clothes and strap on battle armor before heading to the White Tiger Forest with two dozen cultivators under Firton''s lead.


    Divan Reyne flew behind Wilbur, staring at his back. To think that this once- shabby-looking man who did not even have the right to be a ve back then had now be one of the Reyne family guards, and he even held a higher position than Divan himself. How unfair!